Not so long ago, a difficult period had seen one or two call into question whether Mark Warburton was the right man for the manager's job at Nottingham Forest.

Defeats to Leeds United, Sheffield Wednesday, Wolves, Aston Villa, Fulham and Derby County in the Championship, along with a 5-1 Carabao Cup hammering at Chelsea, made for a tough few weeks.

Having come out of that tricky spell against some of the Championship’s stronger, more settled, clubs - along with the champions of England at Stamford Bridge - Forest have now won three of their last four.

Philippe Montanier was sacked after a 0-0 draw at Birmingham in January

Kieran Dowell adds a second for Forest against Rangers (Image: Dan Westwell)

Was that a sign of how far they’ve come in a year?

All four wins Forest had recorded at this stage last season had come at the City Ground, with the two away victories they mustered in the whole campaign coming later in November, at Ipswich and Barnsley.

They’d amassed just 16 points from those 16 games, scoring 18 goals on home soil and just seven away from Trentside.

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This time around, Forest have won eight times in total so far, with three coming on the road, netting 25 goals in the process. They sit ninth in the division, two points off the top six, while 12 months ago, the gap to the play-off zone was 10 points.